The separation barrier and tough job market are both seen as spurring a spike of East Jerusalem residents on campus. The trend is bringing the city’s Palestinian and Jewish communities closer, and creating a new elite. “The Forum,” as anyone who’s studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem knows, is the central plaza on the Mount Scopus campus, where students in the law, humanities and social science faculties congregate. It’s also a good barometer of the human composition of the university.
Anyone who wandered by there this week as the new school year began could sense that the composition of university’s student body has undergone a change. Here and there you see a few soldiers in uniform, the result of a controversial partnership between the army and the university in a program called Havatzalot, designed for soldiers in military intelligence. There were also some uniformed policemen, partaking in another partnership, a few ultra-Orthodox men, a Christian priest, some secular and religious Jewish students.
But oddly enough a large group of Palestinian women gathered near a sign that said “A Jewish soul – building a connected future.” This year, more than ever before, a Palestinian presence is evident on the campus.
Read the full Haaretz article here